Aikman not sure NFL will continue to be No. 1

While we hear nothing but great things about the health of the NFL -- particularly whenever commissioner Roger Goodell holds a press conference -- and see the ratings continue to rise, former Cowboys star quarterback Troy Aikman, who moonlights as an NFL analyst on a non-CBS network, isn’t quite as optimistic.

Though the NFL has continued to gain in popularity since … oh, let’s say … when the AFL was established in 1960, Aikman can see a day in the future when pro football isn’t necessarily the No. 1 sport in this country. For Aikman, it’s all about the long-term viability of the league, and when a sport becomes oversaturated among the public, that’s not great news.

“At one time, watching football was an event,” Aikman told the L.A. Times. “Monday Night Football was a big event. Now you get football Sunday, you get it Monday, you get it Thursday and, late in the year, you get it on Saturday.

One big struggle Aikman points to is the NFL Network. While the network, in my view, does a mostly-wonderful job in covering the league, there’s a big problem the NFL has not solved. As in, much of the country doesn’t have access to the channel.

“All of sudden, fans, me included, were saying, ‘I wasn’t getting the Thursday night game and I was OK with that,’” Aikman said. “That’s not a good thing.”

That’s true, especially since the league will add more games to the Thursday night lineup, meaning that’ll be five more games next season fans can’t see on the networks or ESPN.

If there’s any reason I can think of to agree with Aikman, it’s based on what he said last year when discussing the concussion issue that simply won’t go away (nor should it).

“I think that we’re at a real crossroads, as it relates to the grassroots of our sport, because if I had a 10-year-old boy, I don’t know that I’d be real inclined to encourage him to go play football, in light of what we are learning from head injuries,” Aikman said on HBO’s Real Sports. “And so what is the sport going to look like 20 years from now?”

But other than the concussions issue -- which, to me, doesn’t seem to have many fans (or players) all that concerned -- I’m not sure if I buy the theory that the NFL’s wings will melt away* because of a supposed sense of hubris.

*Icarus clearly would disagree with this statement.

“I think we’re going to look back at this point in time and say these were the missteps that the National Football League took that kept football from being the No. 1 sport,” Aikman said.

“I believe, and this is my opinion, that at some point football is not going to be the No. 1 sport. You talk about the ebbs and flows of what’s popular and what’s not. At some point, the TV ratings are not going to be there.”

Aikman not sure NFL will continue to be No. 1

Bronxzoo, you just like to hear yourself talk. You want empirical data?? How about the facts that I gave you earlier in the thread about number of pepole who watch the NFL versus the NBA?? Not good enough?? Please. 21.8 million NFL viewers for GB v. Chi on Dec 25 week 16 game. 5 million watched the NBA and its BIG CAN'T MISS OPENING GAME between NY and BOSTON. To boot, that was the 4th highest watched regular season NBA game ever. Shut Up bronxzoo... go watch the NBA and keep crying about your distain for the NFL. You are the minority, and you are apparently a simple- minded idiot. The numbers are TOO HIGH, and the NFL WILL NOT ever be caught by any other sports EVEN if the NFL fell off 50%. Put that empirical data in your bored pipe and smoke it!!

All of that evidence doesn't prove that the NFL will stay on top in future. It just proves that the NFL is on top right now. Why don't you just man up and admit that you can't prove that the NFL will stay on top forever?

Since: Jan 2, 2012

Posted on: February 24, 2012 3:58 pm

Aikman not sure NFL will continue to be No. 1

Bronxzoo, you just like to hear yourself talk. You want empirical data?? How about the facts that I gave you earlier in the thread about number of pepole who watch the NFL versus the NBA?? Not good enough?? Please. 21.8 million NFL viewers for GB v. Chi on Dec 25 week 16 game. 5 million watched the NBA and its BIG CAN'T MISS OPENING GAME between NY and BOSTON. To boot, that was the 4th highest watched regular season NBA game ever. Shut Up bronxzoo... go watch the NBA and keep crying about your distain for the NFL. You are the minority, and you are apparently a simple- minded idiot. The numbers are TOO HIGH, and the NFL WILL NOT ever be caught by any other sports EVEN if the NFL fell off 50%. Put that empirical data in your bored pipe and smoke it!!

Since: Aug 25, 2006

Posted on: February 24, 2012 3:01 pm

Aikman not sure NFL will continue to be No. 1

Too many injuries. Back to 14 games, three game pre-season, no Thursday or Saturday regular season games, and Sunday games should have a distribution of games running from 1 PM, 4 PM, & 7 PM.

Also, if only five receivers can go out for a pass on any offensive play, only five defensive rushers should ever be allowed to rush the QB on a passing play - any blitz combination of five rushers will be allowed. That way, allow DB's to play in pre-Marino passing rules' structures.

Just a thought or two.

Since: Aug 27, 2006

Posted on: February 24, 2012 11:23 am

Aikman not sure NFL will continue to be No. 1

Bronxzoo, do u watch the NBA?

Yeah, I do. And I find it highly entertaining. The game has evolved naturally and been tampered with relatively few times and the core elements behind the game still hold as true for LeBron, Kobe, Dwight Howard, etc. as they did for MJ, Bird, Magic, etc. Sure, they've toned down hard fouls and the AAU elements in it aren't perfect.

Compared to the cheapened product the NFL puts out there, the NBA and MLB blow it out of the water. One poster already discussed the NFL's attempts a softening and minimizing the NFL game...and I agree to a T. The NFL's focus on safety and passing has radically changed the product I grew up watching. 3 5,000 yard passers in ONE season? I'm supposed to take NFL defenses seriously too? Hahahaha yeah right. Give me friggin' break. That's obscene and frankly a major diss to the old school NFL players like Ray Nitschke and Dick Butkus and even more recent older guys like Deion Sanders or Lawrence Taylor.

When a rookie can step in from a run-based spread offense and drop an easy 4,000 yards, no matter how gifted the player is, that shouldn't be happening in what I'm told was the highest level of football. I guess the NFL just wants to be the Arena League eventually.

I compare Cam Newton's rookie year to being a rookie in the NBA and averaging a 22-5-5 right off the bat. You know that's not happening unless you're MJ. Or being a MLB rookie and hitting .320 with 30 HRs and 100+ RBIs as a 20-year old. Sorry, not happening. Only in the NFL is such a ridiculous accomplishment possible, because the powers that be have decided that a fantasy football-driven product is more lucrative, important, and interesting than putting a top-notch, balanced product out there. And that's really sad.

I used to be a big NFL fan, but last year really was the last straw for me. I saw way too much of it on sports TV and heard too much on talk radio. It is tiresome. Familiarity breeds contempt.

Give me college football on Saturdays and my football fix will be perfect. I get a way bigger quantity of better, purer football for a whole day. No prima donnas. No over-commercialization. No Tim Tebow Madness. And it's not crammed down my throat, either. I can just sit back and enjoy a bunch of games.

Since: Aug 27, 2006

Posted on: February 24, 2012 11:01 am

Aikman not sure NFL will continue to be No. 1

My prior post was deleted, I guess for an asterik Curse word??

Maybe it was the complete lack of factual evidence supporting your claim that the NFL will always be #1? I'm still waiting for empirical evidence that the NFL will permanently stay on top.

Who knows, but my points raised to bronxzoo are that I NEVER advocated for the NBA to fold, as he incorrectly writes. IF the NBA folded, 75 % of the general population would not care. This is NOT true of the NFL.

Still waiting for those empircal facts....

Further, I pointed out to bronxzoo that I am not racist, and he should not call me one.

Right, because it's not racist to categorically refer to a league where the dominant group is African-Americans as a bunch of "gangsters." I must've missed that memo. "If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck."

Last, I do know several past and present NBA players, and many of them are class acts, nice guys. Some are not, and Gangster is not too far off the mark in describing it.

So you contradict yourself. Which is it? Are all NBA players gangsters or are they not? You'll have to forgive my cynicism but I find a little convenient that you just happen to know a bunch of NBA players. That's convenient. And also totallly unprovable, just like your original point.

The NFL is locked in as number 1, and going nowhere from the Number 1 spot. NBA, MLB and NHL are all distant also- rans.

People said the same thing about baseball back in the 50's. Hence the term, "America's Pasttime." It didn't drop away overnight. And the NFL won't either. But sports, like life, is cyclical. The NFL's popularity will eventually wane.

Since: Jan 2, 2012

Posted on: February 23, 2012 4:30 pm

Aikman not sure NFL will continue to be No. 1

My prior post was deleted, I guess for an asterik Curse word?? Who knows, but my points raised to bronxzoo are that I NEVER advocated for the NBA to fold, as he incorrectly writes. IF the NBA folded, 75 % of the general population would not care. This is NOT true of the NFL. Further, I pointed out to bronxzoo that I am not racist, and he should not call me one. Last, I do know several past and present NBA players, and many of them are class acts, nice guys. Some are not, and Gangster is not too far off the mark in describing it. The NFL is locked in as number 1, and going nowhere from the Number 1 spot. NBA, MLB and NHL are all distant also- rans.

Since: Aug 27, 2006

Posted on: February 23, 2012 3:07 pm

This comment has been removed.

Post Deleted by Administrator

Since: Aug 24, 2007

Posted on: February 23, 2012 1:17 pm

Aikman not sure NFL will continue to be No. 1

The only way the NFL would lose popluarity right now is because of a strike or lockout. Ask baseball or hockey if they could do the last 10 years over again and see what they say. Ask the NBA if the lockout was worth it. The NFL is in the driver's seat. Too many football games? What? There aren't 162 of them... And how many baseball fans watch matinee games on Tuesday? Rule changes? You could mandate that all teams wear pink, and it would still be the most popular sport. Because football is violent. Baseball is boring (unless you give the players steriods and let them whack away...) Basketball is repetative and horribly officiated(in addition to having no salary cap and no balance). Hockey lacks scoring(too many teams, not enough stars). Soccer is for the rest of the world. NASCAR is for the rednecks(and technically not a sport, either). But football is for everyone. Except my fiancee. Violence makes people want to watch. Ands long as players get to hit each other, people will watch and spend their money. And bet it too.

Since: Dec 1, 2009

Posted on: February 23, 2012 12:53 pm

Aikman not sure NFL will continue to be No. 1

BronxZoo, it's no more racist to discount NBA fans than it is to discount hockey or NASCAR fans. Yet I suspect that black guys like Charles Barkley weren't called "racists" by the likes of you when they diminish those sports and their fans. Perhaps that's because it's you who's the true racist.